Oil well pump assembly



Oct. 20, 1970 n.1'. HARBlsN 3,535,056 I oIL wELLPUMP ASSEMBLY l 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001;. 7, 1968 VInn/Emma Dlxon T; Harblson ATTORNEYScl. 20, 1970 D, 1', HARB|SQN y3,535,056

oIL WELL PUMP ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 7. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TORFlG.7

ATTORNE YS Dixon T. Horbson United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 417-448Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An oil well pump assembly including astanding valve and having a plunger reciprocable in a Working barrel andadapted to strike the standing valve upon each downstroke so as to jarsaid valve suiciently to unseat its valve ball and permit upward llow ofhigh gravity, relatively low volume well iluids past said valve ballupon the upstroke of the plunger. Spring-biased telescoping members aremounted in the plunger to absorb the shock of such jarring, and thevalve seat of the standing valve may have an extremely narrow seatingsurface to facilitate and prolong the disengagement of the valve balltherefrom.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Pumps for wellvlluids of high gravity and relatively low volume and having suicientgas mixed therewith to partially aerate the fluids and form oil bubb-leswhich prevent eicient operation of the pumps.

Description of the prior art Heretofore, conventional oil well pumpshave been very inefficient when the well tluids have containedsufficient gas to partially aerate said fluids and form oil bubbles. The:aerated or gasied oil became trapped between the standing andtravelling valves and created a vapor Alock that prevented opening ofsaid standing valve and upward flow of well iluids upon the upstroke ofthe pump plunger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A novel oil well pump assembly including aworking barrel having a standing valve at its lower end and areciprocable plunger thereabove. The stroke of the plunger is such thatit strikes the standing valve upon each downstroke so as to jar saidvalve suliiciently to unseat its valve ball to permit upward flow ofwell fluids therethrough upon the upstroke of said plunger, whereby thewell lluids being pumped may be of high gravity as well as relativelylow volume and have sufficient gas mixed therewith to partially aeratesaid fluids and form oil bubbles. The plunger includes telescopingmembers, which are urged apart by a helical spring, for absorbing theshock of this jarring action. Unseating of the valve ball is facilitatedby providing the valve seat of the standing valve with a seating surfaceof extremely narrow width which facilitates and prolongs thedisengagement of said valve ball therefrom. Also, the springbiasedtelescoping members permit relative upward movement of the portion ofthe plunger therebelow for drawing well uids through the standing valve.

Desirably, the pump plunger has wiper rings above and below its packingmeans for sealing off between the working barrel and plunger, and saidbarrel has end extension of enlarged internal diameter to permit washingof sand from the wiper rings by the well fluids upon said rings movinginto the barrel extensions at the ends of the upstroke and downstroke ofsaid plunger. Also, the plunger may have wear members above and belowits packing means for centering said plunger in the barrel ice and forassisting said packing means in sealing olf between said barrel andplunger.

A construction designed to carry out the invention will be describedhereinafter, together with other features of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION THE DRAWINGS FIG. l is a longitudinal, sectional view,partly in elevation, of the upper portion of an oil well pump assemblyconstructed in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. l-B, 1-C and l-D are views, similar to FIG. 1, showing theremainder of the pump assembly.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, horizontal, cross-sectional view taken on theline 2 2 of FIG. 1,

FIGS. 3 and 4 are enlarged, horizontal, cross-sectional views taken onthe lines 3--3 and 44, respectively, of FIG. 1-B,

FIGS. 5 and 6 are enlarged, horizontal, cross-sectional views taken onthe lines 5-5 and 6 6, respectively, of FIG, l-D, and

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal, elevational view, partly in section, of thepump assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawing, the numeral 1designates an oil well pump assembly embodying the principles of theinvention and including an elongate, Working barrel 2 and a coactingtubular plunger 3 which has a cylindrical rod 4 connected to its upperend for attachment to a conventional pump or sucker rod 5. A cylindricalsleeve or extension 6, of slightly greater internal diameter, isscrewthreaded onto each end of the barrel 2 which has internal, bevelledor tapered end faces 7 (FIGS. 1 and l-C) to provide smooth transitionsbetween the bores of said barrel and its extensions. The upper end ofthe upper barrel extention 6 is screwthreaded into the enlarged lowerportion of a guide bonnet 8 through which the rod 4 is slidable. Whenthis rod as well as the pump rod 5 are solid as shown, the lower portionof the guide bonnet 8 has lateral discharge ports 9 (FIGS. 1 and 2) forcommunicating with the well tubing (not shown) above the pump assembly1.

A standing valve 10 has its cylindrical blind cage or housing 11screwthreaded into the lower end of the working barrel 2 (FIG. 1-D) andhas an annular, upwardlyfacing valve seat 12 for coacting with a valveball 13 to permit the uptlow of well iluids into said barrel upon theupstroke of the plunger 3 and to prevent downlow from said barrel duringthe downstroke of said plunger. It is noted that the valve seat 12 hasan extremely narrow, such as 1;/32 of an inch, bevelled face 14 at itsinner, upper periphery whereby the ball valve 13 is readily unseated ordisengaged from the seat face. A tubular seating nipple 15 is mounted onthe lower end of the standing valve 10 by having its upstanding pin `16screwthreaded into the lower end of the blind cage 11 so as to confinethe valve seat 12 against displacement in coaction with an overlying,annular shoulder 17 in said cage. 'Ihe seating nipple 15 is providedwith packing cups or rings 18 for sealing off therearound and, althoughsubject to variation, may have a screwthreaded socket 19 in its lowerend for detachable connection with a suitable anchor (not shown). Inorder to rotate the entire pump assembly 1 when it becomes stuck in awell due to accumulation of sand therearound and difficult to remove, acylindrical enlargement 20 (FIG. 1) is formed on the upper end of therod 4 and has depending lugs 21 for engagement with complementarynotches or recesses 22 in the upper end of the guide bonnet 8.

The pump plunger 3 includes a coupling 23, having lateral dischargeopenings 24, screwthreaded onto the lower end for connecting anelongate, tubular member or sleeve 26 thereto. An elongate, tubularmember or tube 27 telescopes within the sleeve 26 and has an external,annular shoulder 28 on its upper end for coacting with an internal,annular shoulder 29 on the lower end of the sleeve to prevent separationof the tube and sleeve. The tube 27 is constantly urged downward-lyrelative to the sleeve by a helical spring 30 confined on said tubebetween the sleeve shoulder 29 and a collar 31 (FIG. l-C) screwthreadedonto the lower end of said tube. An adapted coupling 32 is screwthreadedinto the lower end of the collar 31 for suspending a cylindrical tube ortubular mandrel 33 which has a similar adapted coupling 34 (FIG. l-D)screwthreadly connecting a travelling valve 35 to its lower end. Betweenthe adapter couplings 32 and 34, the mandrel 33 carries in descendingorder an upper wiper assembly 36, an upper tubular spacer 37, an upperwear member or sleeve 38, a packing assembly 39, a lower wear member orsleeve 40, a lower tubular spacer 41 and a -lower wiper assembly 42.

Each of the wiper assemblies 36 and 42 (FIGS. l-C and l-D) includes anannular body or collar 43 having an external, circumferential recess 44for receiving a split packing ring 45, of plastic or other suitablematerial, for sealing engagement with the bore of the barrel 2. As shownby the numeral 46, coacting annular grooves and tongues are provided atthe inner peripheral portions of the recess 44 and ring 45, both top andbottom, for conning the ring against engagement with the larger bore ofeach barrel extension 6 (FIG. 5). Each of the wear sleeves 38 and 40have an external diameter substantially equal to the internal diameterof the working barrel so as to center the plunger 3 therein and assistthe packing assembly 39 in sealing off between said barrel and plunger.The tubular spacers 37 and 41 have external diameters less than thediameter of the working barrel bore to permit flow therepast. Thepacking assembly 39 may be of conventional construction and includes theusual cups 47, of plastic or other suitable material, and spacer ringsy48.

The travelling valve 35 is similar to the standing valve in that it hasa cylindrical blind cage or housing 49 containing an annular,upwardly-facing valve seat 50 and a coacting valve ball 51. A tubularplug 52 is screwthreaded into the lower end of the blind cage 49 forconning the valve seat 50 against displacement in coacting with anoverlying, annular shoulder 53 in said cage. It is noted that the plug52 has appreciable axial and radial thickness so as to be capable offunctioning as a hammer. An anvil for striking by the hammer is providedby a horizontal, diametric, cross bar or member 54, of relatively largetransverse dimensions, overlying and secured to the upper end of theblind cage 11 of the standing valve 10.

The pump assembly 1 is adapted for use in wells of high gravity andrelatively low volume well fluids having mixed therewith a quantity ofgas sucient to partially aerate the fluids and form oil bubbles whichbecome trapped between the standing and travelling valves 10 and 35,thereby creating a vapor lock that prevents opening of said standingvalve. In order to ensure opening of the standing valve, the plug 52 isadapted to strike the cross bar 54 upon each downstroke of the plunger 3so as to bump or jar said valve and cause suicient shock or vibration tounseat the valve ball 13. As noted, the narrowness of the face 14 of thevalve seat 12 facilitates the disengagement of the valve ball from saidface and prolongs the duration of such unseated or opened condition soas to permit the well fluids therebelow to flow past said valve ballupon upward movement of the plunger. Due to the telescoping members 26and 27, the portion of the plunger 3 therebelow abruptly travelsupwardly upon striking of the anvil cross bar by the hammer plug tocommence drawing well fluids through the standing valve 10. Of course,the helical spring 30 limits upward movement of the lower or innertelescoping member relative to the upper or outer telescoping member soas to prevent damaging thereof and forces said lower member downwardly.Also, the telescoping members permit engagement of the lugs 21 with thenotches 22 for rotating the entire pump assembly 1 during removalthereof.

Although the packing cups 47 as well as the wear sleeves 38 and 40remain in the working barrel 2 during reciprocation of the plunger 3,the wiper rings 45 move out of said barrel into the extensions 6 thereofat the ends of the downstroke (FIG. l-D) and upstroke of said plunger.Due to the bores of the barrel extensions being of larger diameter thanthe working barrel bore, the wiper rings are spaced from the formerbores to permit the well uids to flow past said rings for washing sandtherefrom and thereby prolong the life of the pump assembly. The sanddrops or is washed downwardly olf of the ring of the lower wiperassembly y42 and is carried or washed upwardly off of the ring of theupper wiper assembly 36 to prevent said sand from contacting anddamaging the packing cups. Ample flow area for this washing action isprovided by the tubular spacers 37 and 41 being of an external diameterless than the diameter of the working barrel bore so as to be spacedtherefrom as well as from the enlarged bores of the barrel extensions 6.It is noted, however, that the wiper rings 45 are sullicientlycontiguous the bores of the barrel extensions, as well as frictionallyengage the working barrel bore, whereby said rings resist movement ofthe lower portion of the plunger relative to its upper portion under theinfluence of the spring 30 so as to dampen or snub such movement.

What is claimed is:

1. An oil well pump assembly for lifting well uids of high gravity andrelatively low volume and having sufficient gas mixed therewith topartially aerate the lluids and form oil bubbles including a workingbarrel,

a standing valve at the -lower end portion of the working barrel,

a plunger reciprocable within said barrel above the standing valve,

said standing valve including a blind cage communicating with saidbarrel and having an annular upwardly facing valve seat therein forcoacting with an overlying valve ball,

anvil means at the upper end of the blind cage,

and hammer means at the lower end of the plunger for engagement with theanvil means,

the stroke of said plunger being adjusted so that the hammer meansstrikes said anvil, means at the end of each downstroke for jarring saidstanding valve suciently to unseat the valve ball and permit the upwardow of well fluids past said valve ball upon upward movement of saidplunger.

2. An oil well pump assembly as dened in claim 1 wherein the anvil meansincludes a cross bar secured to the upper end of the blind cage of thestanding valve.

3. An oil well pump assembly for lifting well fluids of high gravity andrelatively low volume and having sufficient gas mixed therewith topartially aerate the Iuids and form oil bubbles including a workingbarrel,

a standing valve at the lower end portion of the Working barrel,

a plunger reciprocable within said barrel above the standing valve,

said standing valve including a blind cage communieating with saidbarrel and having an annular upwardly facing valve seat therein forcoacting with an overlying valve ball,

the stroke of the plunger being adjusted so that its lower end strikesthe blind cage at the end of each downstroke for jarring said standingvalve sufciently to unseat the valve ball and permit the upward flow ofwell iluids past said valve ball upon upward movement of said plunger,

the valve seat having a seating face of extremely narrow width tofacilitate and prolong disengagement of said valve ball therefrom.

4. An oil Well pump assembly dened in claim 7, 8 or 9 including packingmeans mounted on the plunger for sealing olf therearound,

wiper rings mounted on said plunger above and below the packing meansfor sealing olf between the working barrel and plunger,

said working barrel having end extensions of enlarged internal diameter,

CFI

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1922 Wilcox 103-179 5/1927Cleage et al. 103-179 5/1961 Guptill 103--228 8/ 1943 Chenault 103--180WILLIAM L. FREEH, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. R.X.

